Yesterday a good birthday. Spent the day selfishly. Doing what I wanted. No wife, friend or foe to accommodate. Just Louis.

Some observations to begin.

This morning was the best yet in Amorgos. I sat outside on the terrace reading till I left for the internet store at noon. The sun warm. Comfortable. It was impossible to sit out early morning till today because of the cold winds.

The locals tell me the winds come three days at a time from the northwest. Then they are gone. This is my fourth day on Amorgos. The natives were correct.

Bikinis. I have never seen a woman in a bikini that I did not like. The thought recurred to me this morning as I was walking to the internet store. With such great winds, sailing boats frequent the area. There were nine docked this morning. Each with one or more women on board. All in bikinis. Whether tall, short, slender bodied, heavy or what have you, a woman in a bikini is a sight to behold. All lovely. All sexy.

I have been on this trip two weeks. I loaded six books into my tablet before I left. I figured it would take me two months to read them. I am on my sixth and last book today. I will need to reload.

I finished Jefferson this morning. Terrific! I started Burt Bacharach’s book thereafter. Bacharach is the famous composer. What a book! I am only about fifty pages into it and love it! This guy has a sense of humor! Read his book!

I spent 4.5 hours yesterday at the internet store. Two tasks confronted me. I had to do next week’s KONK Life column. I called it Reflections. Commented on some events world wide. Then the blog. It’s a good thing I enjoy all this writing!

Lunch was Mythos. The restaurant has become another favorite. On the port and water, also.

Mythos’ owner is Vangelis. His first name. He and his family run the place. Vangelis, his wife, 15 year old daughter, and 10 year old son. There is also a 14 month baby daughter who walks around. Yes, she walks. Toddles. To the entertainment of the customers. A hard working family!

Why, I do not know. I ordered a huge glass of draught beer! I hate beer! A gallon jug! Not really that big, however. Though almost quart size.

Felt a bit bloated afterwards. Decided to walk.

My health has been so so. My fault. Stopped exercising in any fashion ages ago. Have been trying to get back into shape.

I said Louis, you are 78 today. Lets see how good you can do.

I walked around the bay. Three miles. I have not walked three miles in years. Did it. And felt no anguish afterwards.

I was proud of myself.

Back to Mythos for a moment. The bread on Amorgos is great. Thick cut with a strong hard crust. Not crispy, however. I have difficulty biting and chewing the crust. So I have taken to breaking away the soft portion within the crust and leaving the crust.

Vangelis came by with the baby. He said excuse me and took a piece of crust from my table. He gave it to the baby . She chewed it easily with the few teeth she had. I thought I have $35,000 teeth and cannot do what the baby does.

I have noticed that people of all ages sit around tables at the cafes playing a game. Looked familiar. It was. They play backgammon! Call it tavli.

Backgammon was popular back in the 1970s. I can remember playing it all the time at the Jockey Club in Miami. I guess it took a while to reach Amorgos. The observation is consistent with my thought that Amorgos is from another time.

Ran into my British widow friend Alice. If you are doing nothing, join me, she said. She had rented a car and wanted to show me the goats.

We drove up a mountain. There were clouds. First, we were below the clouds. Then in the clouds. Then on top of the clouds. Just like in an airplane. The only other time I had this experience was last year in Courmier. My chalet was half way up Mont Blanc. I woke one morning to a cloud bed below me.

We came upon the goats. She was correct. Had to be at least 200 of them. All beautiful, short, brown and black, and short in stature.

I was back to the Mythos Restaurant at 7. I had reserved a table. The stage for the music festival was right in front of the restaurant.

A great show. Young people from adjoining islands singing, dancing and playing music. Violins were the primary instrument. Some guitars. A small drum or two.

Dancing was in native costumes.

The Greek Orthodox priest I had seen earlier in the day was on stage playing with the teenagers.

Music loud. Very loud. Big time amplification.

The show most enjoyable! A pleasant way to spend the evening. Eating, drinking and being entertained in that fashion.

Spyros Tsimelas owns the internet store I am working out of. He was there last night. He had an important role. Spyros is the computer/internet guru on the island. The entire festival was being ustreamed on the internet. His responsibility.

I ordered stuffed calamari for dinner. Not what grandmother made. Hers were small and thin stuffed with bread crumbs, eggs and what have you. This was one calamari. Huge. Four by three inches. Thick walled. Stuffed with feta cheese, tomatoes and peppers. Delicious! I could not finish it. I left half the meal on the plate.

Vangelis came over and asked if I did not like the food. I learned later that in Europe people clean their plates. Not to do so is considered an insult to the cook.

To my Italian readers, although the walls of the calamari were 1/4 inch thick, the meat was tender. As tender as if it were as thin as the calamari prepared in the United States.

Dear Louis,
Happy Birthday. I have been enjoying travelling with you through your blog. Christine and I will spend a month in Pennsylvania helping my brothers move a lifetime of stuff out of the farm where my father was born and lived his entire life and where I was raised. Looking forward to old memories with my brothers and getting my mother set up. Enjoy the rest of your trip.
Love, Larry